Stolen
by fortunator
Summary: A thief usually doesn't have a goal in mind, but he did and he would do anything just to have it. He hates mistakes. He stole from the wrong person and he's determined to escape. So why exactly is he wasting his time in the strangest, weirdest, most wonderful place in the world when he knows it'll just shatter him to pieces? AU
1. Prologue

_**Stolen**_

 _Prologue_

 _The rain was pounding against his poor, ragged frame. No one ever thought of cleaning an alley and making his life easier to walk through it. He wasn't gonna get caught, he would make sure of that. His heart pounded against his chest._

 _The sirens that followed from behind him grew louder as his pace was slowed down to a halt upon approaching an intersection. He knew at least two of those roads had more of those bastards coming and he wasn't willing to get surrounded any time soon._

" _STOP THIS NONSENSE NOW!" A woman's voice boomed over the sirens, and the man knew that voice all too well. Gritting his teeth, he decided to take his chances and take the road heading North, running as fast as he could he found another alley and without a second thought jumped to it, hiding behind a dumpster. The faint smell of something incredibly horrible was covered by the sound and surrounding rain. He couldn't have picked a better weather condition? The better question was how could he? The client had it in mind to make it today and so he picked today._

 _Hopefully the client would double his reward for going through all this bullshit. "What a dick…" He muffled to himself._

 _As he waited patiently for the sirens to pass by, he pulled off the small, now soaked bag that clung to his back and fingered through it, looking for the item he had stolen. The rain was mercilessly pouring down on him, making it hard to see or even keep himself from getting frustrated as the bag kept nearly slipping from his hands._

 _Unceremoniously, the rain suddenly dropped down harder and successfully released the bag from his supposedly tight grip. He cursed and tried to grab at it, but it was a mistake as he grabbed the opposite end and the item he had been looking for, rolled out and made the loudest, most annoying clinking sound on the concrete that had surpassed the thunderstorm._

 _As he expected, the sirens were immediately brought to the attention and not a moment later, he heard her voice again._

" _Natsu Dragneel! Come out with your arms up and we won't do you any harm!"_

 _He scoffed. She must have rehearsed that behind his back. Ungrateful bitch, he thought as he ignored the soft pang in his chest and looked around, skilfully bringing the item back into the safety of his bag. It was a dead-end alley, which made him scowl and rethink her offer._

 _It was when he glared at the huge wall that screamed no escape that he noticed a roof that hovered from afar. He stood up and inspected it further from afar. He caught a glimpse of antique walls, trees adorning a shockingly large yard along with a small, chimney-looking figure, releasing small puffs of smoke._

 _He went over his thoughts of rather getting caught than to enter a probably wealthy person's abode(but it's not like he's never done that before), and glanced at the sirens' colors of red and blue travelling across everywhere outside the alley._

 _He thought of her anticipating his defeat._

 _He clenched his jaw. Like hell he'd allow that. He looked up at the household over the wall once more._

 _It sure as hell would be better than this._

 _Without making a sound this time, he ran through the alley and brought out a knife. Nearing the wall, he jumped and stabbed the hard stone with ease, bringing out another knife to help him lift his weight as he climbed up the wall._

 _As he neared the top, he could hear her voice through the rain in a distance as she repeated her command. He smirked and sat at the top when finally, he saw her small and soaked figure enter the alley with a gun in her hand, eyes blazed with fury._

 _Before she could see him, sitting at the far end wall of the alley as he muttered a soft goodbye, his torso fell back and he disappeared into the other side._

* * *

The men surrounding the scene watched as their youngest and strongest officer came out of the alley, her hazel brown eyes frowning as the rain poured down on her. She screamed in frustration.

"DAMN IT! Damn it, damn it damn it!" She repeatedly stated, punching the nearest wall she could find. The rain washed the blood off her fingers, but wasn't washed quick enough for the men surrounding her to see. "I had him. I had him right there and he's gone?! That's bullsh*t!" She started kicking at the wall and writhing, as if the frustration was so unbearable for her to take.

"Wendy." An unarmed officer walked over to her, his stance calm and collected even when her scowling gaze fell to him, the gun in her hand already pulled by the trigger.

"Don't. Just don't Gray!" She yelled, her hands tempted to aim the gun at her teammate. "I can't lose him again. Why?! Why can't he just-!" Wendy's mouth opened and shut, tears spilling from her eyes as she knew the rain could hide it anyway. She faced the alley and brought her hands up to her face. "F*CK!"

"He's gone. He always is, it ain't any different."

"We could have _had_ him Gray!" She faced him, her anger seeping out of her caused by his calm response. "We could have finally brought him in! Why are you so relaxed about this?!"

"That's because he's done it a hundred times before!" He finally burst out, Wendy stepping back at how raised his voice was. "It's not like it's the end of the world Wendy! You think _I_ can take it?! I've been chasing him for two years! _Two damn years_ and I can't even find a single trace of him. So if I can't why can you?!"

Wendy only stared at him in response, eyes wide. He huffed, trying to regain his composure, but the frustration was evident in his eyes and Wendy could see it, even through the rain pounding hard on them. "It's not like I've given up Wendy, but it's no longer impossible that he'd…that he'd get away with it after all."

There was silence between the two officers for a while before Wendy shook her head, "I'm not giving up." She finalized, looking up at Gray with fierce determination. He frowned at her and she left, knowing her partner would follow her back to the car. Gray watched her wet blue hair dangle as she walked in front of him, his eyes trailing down to the gun that dangled by her grip. He watched her grip tightened as she spoke, her back to him, _"I'm bringing him back."_

Gray motioned for the other officers to leave as well when he heard her say it.

"I'm bringing him back, and I'm gonna kill him myself."

* * *

 _ **A/N: The randomest of the random realm of random ideas has bestowed upon me this scif-fi, drama, family, friendship, and romance five-chaptered story. Well, not including this chap, it's a prologue of some sorts.**_

 _ **To those who read my other story Maybe I'm Broken and saw this then going all like "Y DA EFF U NO UPDATE?" Pretty short story, I had an unbreakable deal of writer's block because my laptop's memory has been entirely wiped clean. As in, no more. I didn't expect something like that to happen when I got my laptop fixed so I was so broken-hearted I cried and stopped writing for a while. But now, me is back. Shall she bring back all the stories that have lost. This story isn't gonna interrupt my planned flow of updates for MIB in anyyy way..**_

 _ **To you who have surprisingly gained interest in this story, tell me what ya think and *wink wink* there's that lil' review button at the bottom to help you out if ya no what im sayin *wink wink wink***_

 _ **Seriously tho, please review, thoughts are much appreciated :)**_

 _ **-K-**_


	2. Chapter 1

_**READ THE DESCRIPTION AFTER READING PLEASEEEEE**_

* * *

 _ **Stolen**_

" _ **All wonderful things were once a myth."**_

 _Ch. 1_

Something tickled.

Natsu was certain, something definitely felt odd and annoying. He was in a state of intended paralysis, as he liked to call it. Whenever he wakes up, he doesn't like to move for at least an hour, thinking and strategizing or just simply lazing around. Despite how tempting it was to stay that way at the moment, there are uncomfortable things poking under him. He groaned silently, slightly moving one arm so he can regain his sense of feeling. It brushed through something and limply fell all of a sudden, Natsu recognizing the touches as leaves.

He was in a bush, he guessed.

Cracking one eye open might've been a mistake as the sun immediately glared down on him. Natsu's eyes shut close at the brightness and rolled off the bush to fall into what felt like concrete. It did no help to minimize his groaning.

"Son…of a bitch…" He mumbled and sat up, rubbing at his eyes and adjusting to the brightness. When he felt his eyesight was clear enough, he turned his head and looked up, seeing the gigantic wall he had fell from the night before.

The night before…Natsu's fist tightened for a few seconds. Replaying the memory of seeing her enter the alley brought a small sting to his chest, though he would never admit it. Although, as he saw her enter the alley with that trashy vest, the letters "F.B.I" engraved in white across it, and her uniform wrapped around her like she was proud of it enough to show the world, made rage boil in his stomach.

It was unacceptable, and he silently hopes it slowly wasn't anymore.

He sighed and shook the thought off his head, looking up at the freakishly large wall once more. He was ready to get out of here, that's for sure. Only problem? He couldn't possibly climb a huge wall in broad daylight, he'd have to wait for nightfall once again. In a place like this, it's certain there would be a guard or two around. Natsu's hands shot to his back and he sighed in relief when he felt his bag clinging unto him, feeling for the item inside and sighing again when he did. Bringing it into his front, he opened it and rummaged through it. Now if only he could find his knives…

His eyes shot up and quickly crawled towards the bushes he had fell on, his hands grabbing at the leaves like a madman. It didn't take long for him to find two broken knives, both cut in half. Natsu looked further until he found their other halves, muttering incoherent words under his breath. He was stuck.

"I'm stuck…?" His toned whisper came out questioning; he has never been stuck before.

His hands patted into his chest and legs and brought out two small daggers, which he knew wouldn't be able to hold his weight up enough to surpass a wall of such stature. He glared at them and brought them back to their respected hiding places in his body.

He swore under his breath. What was he going to do? He couldn't climb up a huge-ass wall with his bare hands, he needed his knives. Those sharp pieces of metal were his partners, and now they were gone. He cursed her name out of habit and cracked his neck, stretching to be clean of anymore bleariness. He needs a plan, now. He can't just sit around and do nothing, or worse, get caught.

He looked up at the wall once again and glared at it.

"Am I in China?" Natsu muttered to himself as he turned his neck back around, "This place is rich as fu—holy shit."

His eyes widened into saucers.

From the concrete walkway he was apparently sitting on, in front of him was a majestic view of an enchanting and just absolutely _wealthy_ garden that seemed to extend into the other side of the universe. Every bush was perfectly trimmed into shapes of different varieties, not a single outlying leaf poking around. Flowers adorned the walkways and were, well, _everywhere_. Different kinds decorated the entirety of the garden, from daisies to roses as far as Natsu knew, a few ponds here and there.

In Natsu's own little mind, he described it as…as…

"So…girly."

"What an absurd comment for you to have."

Natsu's head shot up at the voice.

Next to him, he came face-to-face with the frilliest, girliest, most _disgustingly_ lacy dress he has ever seen in his entire twenty seven years of existence, worn by a blonde woman. Her eyes were big, wide, _brown_ , the very first aspect of whoever she was that he came in contact with, and just watching them made it feel like his soul was robbed clean.

Natsu scurried back still on the ground, his daggers already back in his hands into a threatening position. He sent a vicious scowl her way, growling, "Don't you _dare_ call anyone."

"Oh, sure, and tell them about your hilariously vague comment on classical gardening." She looked down at him, making mock-gestures with her hands as she spoke sarcastically. She sighed, "Ugh, seriously. Don't worry about it, they wouldn't hear me even if I wanted to tell them about your stupidity."

The man frowned at the last part, his stance still up as he slowly stood, looking around constantly to make sure no one was around. When the coast was clear, he raised one dagger higher. "Who are you?"

"Not important." The woman waved it off.

Natsu's brows met once again. "How the hell do I get out of here then?" He asked, eyeing her up and down. She was calm, relaxed, _really_ laid back.

 _Too laid back_ , Natsu thought. He's raising a weapon at her, why isn't she running up against the huge wall behind him?

He shook his head. He can't get caught off-guard.

The woman, who seemed uninterested in whatever he was saying nor seemed to notice a sharp metallic object brought up against her, shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. He raised a brow, "Well?"

She repeated the action. Then again, then the next time.

He was starting to get annoyed.

"Stop wasting my damn time!" He shouted with his voice brought to a minimum, cautious of any surrounding guards, "How on earth do I get out of here Lady? This place is yours right? Should be, you're wearing the flashiest piece of crap I've ever seen."

"Again with your pitiful choice of wording," The woman shook her head in a graceful manner, "As expected of a thief. You're one heck of a guy, Natsu Dragneel."

Natsu's fists tightened around his daggers, scowling at her, "How do you know my name?"

She shrugged again.

"Who the fuck are you—"

"What's that on your back?" The woman asked, and as Natsu blinked she was suddenly gone and was now behind him with his bag in hand. He turned around, furious.

"What the he—"

The woman looked inside the bag, eyeing the item inside with a small 'o' forming at her thin pink lips. She looked up at the angry man before her and smiled, "My my, you've got talent Natsu."

"Don't call me that." He muttered as he harshly retrieved the bag back, the strange woman bringing her hands up beside her head.

"Woah now, don't worry because I won't tell anyone," Natsu glared at her, she smiled lazily, "Hey now, don't you trust me?"

"I don't even know who the fuck you are," He deadpanned, covering the bag with his free hand when she eyed it and looked up at him.

"Even if I get you a way out of here?"

"Yeah right, like I haven't heard that one before."

"Then this is the first time you'll hear it as sincere as my eyes are brown," She walked towards him with confidence, Natsu staggering back. But she kept walking until her outstretched hand held his and brought it down, pulling the dagger away. "I wouldn't be able to tell anyone even if I wanted to." She said with sad eyes, Natsu flinching when she put her hand on his shoulder.

"Look, Lady, you're getting way too close for comfort so unless you want a stab in the stomach—"

"Try it."

He blinked. "What?"

She gestured at the leftmost corner of her waist, smiling, "Try stabbing me."

"You know, I've got no problem with that but you're being creepy."

"It's your way out."

He eyed her like she was crazy. "What?"

She nodded. "It'll take a long time, but if you stab me now, the future will shift and eventually you'll find your way out of here. So go on, stab me."

"I don't understand you with all this future blabbing, you some sort of magician?"

She shrugged.

"Okay that's getting annoying." She only smiled. "Look, just get me a way out of here. I don't need to stab you in the stomach, I'm not too interested in getting my hands messy anytime soon." He sighed. "Stop wasting my time."

What he didn't expect was what she did next.

"Me? Wasting _your_ time?" She rolled her eyes and sighed, "You take too long."

She put the dagger in his right hand and pierced it into her stomach.

Natsu watched with wide eyes as she slowly pulled out the piece of metal. There wasn't blood on the dagger, none that were splattered into his fingers. Her stab wound was covered by her dress, but there was nothing staining it at all.

 _There's no blood._

He fell back, his face horrified. "Y-You're not human."

She shrugged, "I never said I was—hey!"

He didn't wait for her reply, he needed to get out of there fast. He sprinted through the stoned walkways of the garden, skilled legs managing to remain silent but fast as he almost ran into a group of men that were huddled around a corner. He headed in the mansion's direction. _What in the world was going on?_

The structure of the impressive massive piece of architecture got clearer as he neared the entrance. No one was around, almost as if the very core of the place itself was isolated from the outside. Nobody bothered to clean either; the walls were adorned by fresh cobwebs latching from one place to another, dust already entering his lungs even when he wasn't on the marble staircase that led to the front door. Natsu wasn't a Halloween person, nor did he ever experience an actual Halloween party, but if ever he were to then this place was perfect.

His blood ran cold as the thought reminded him of the strange blonde woman.

Without a second thought, Natsu ran up the marble staircase and pushed past the iron doors, tripping himself and ending up rolling into hard wooden flooring.

He caught a glimpse of a red vase displayed on a small table before realizing he was going to crash into it. The pieces scattered into the floor around him with a loud crashing sound, Natsu swearing inwardly. Someone probably heard that. He moaned out a whimper, the struggle of rolling into his back difficult as his head got hit with the foot of the wooden table. His hand wandered and got poked with a sharp piece of the vase, yelling out a cry. _"F_ _uck_ _!"_

The sudden thrust of pain made his torso shot up. His head crashed once again into the wooden table, only the impact was much harder this time. He fell back, feeling the blood seep out of his head.

The last thing Natsu saw before slipping into unconsciousness, was the face of the blonde woman lazily smiling at him from above.

* * *

" _Hey, Nii-chan…"_

" _Yeah?"_

" _Will you ever leave me?"_

"…"

"… _Natsu?"_

"… _no." He smiled. "Never."_

* * *

" _I wonder where he comes from…"_

Natsu's ears perked up at the sound, then ignored it as he rolled into his side, trying to get back to sleep.

" _Me too! Look at his hair, it's pink! PINK! It's so cute! I wanna touch it!"_

" _Shush, stop yelling Lisanna. You'll wake him up!"_

He frowned as the unwanted voices got louder, a groan emitting from his mouth as he stretched his arms and legs. He heard a gasp from beside him, and a hushed whisper that sounded really close to the words _"It's moving…"_

" _Great. You woke him up."_

" _Sorry!"_

" _You guys are being too relaxed over this. He's an intruder! A trespasser! Loke doesn't remember letting him in!"_

" _Oh shut up Auqy, we all know Loke's got a little issue for being overly egoistic and overly forgetful."_

" _Hahahaha! You should've seen him earlier, he looked like he'd seen a ghost when Aries turned him down. Hahahaha!"_

Natsu flinched. Ghost…

" _You take too long."_

His eyes shot open to see a pair of ocean blue eyes staring back at him.

He screamed.

"AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The eyes blinked and grew wide in horror. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Both of them looked at each other and screamed. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

Natsu's torso shot up and he scurried back only to fall off whatever he was on, his chest heaving up at the impact. He ignored the pain and quickly stood up, his fists up in a fighting stance.

His eyes travelled across the room, briefly examining his surroundings. He was in a small room; the walls were made of stone, there was a fireplace at the far corner and neat wooden floors. Four pairs of eyes were locked in on him, his growing wide at the sight of two peculiar figures.

There was a mermaid floating in the small space. Her face completely befitted the disgusted scowl she was currently wearing, and she was carrying a nicely designed blue vase that seemed ready to be thrown at him at any moment. The woman beside her, however, looked just as mortifying and unbelievable as she did. If not, then more horrifying. She looked like a demon, her hands in the form of large claws and her body wrapped around the darkest aura unlike anything he has ever seen before.

As strange and terrifying and just really _unbelievable_ as it seemed, Natsu chose not to be affected which was something he was incredibly good at doing.

He brought his fists up higher and scowled at them equally.

"Where am I?"

The mermaid faced the demon and sighed, "I knew we shouldn't have brought him in."

"It's not like he could harm us or Ms. Lucy anyway," the demon reasoned with a claw, Natsu eyeing them with wonder. He wondered how her voice sounded gentler than he expected it to be as well. His eyes shot up to her face when she faced him, "The better question is, who are you?"

"No one. Let me leave." He demanded. The mermaid's nostrils flared up, raising her voice.

"Speak in a proper tone you brat!"

"Aquarius!" The demon calmed down the mermaid whose name was Aquarius, her firm tone effective as the mythical figure calmed down, her scowl unchanging. "Look, Mr., is that any way to address us, who kindly saved your life?"

"What do you mean? I wasn't dying." Natsu frowned at the word. It left a bad taste on his tongue.

"Oh, you were. We should have let you!" Natsu's attention shifted to a woman whose face looked closely identical to the demon woman. She had the brightest baby blue eyes he has seen in his life, her white hair cut just at the base of her neck and her clothes were more colourful than a deformed rainbow. She huffed, "You're mean!"

Ouch, Natsu sarcastically thought to himself.

"Ever thought of touching your head, you ungrateful son of a leech?!" Natsu rose a brow. She fumed and went up to him, bringing a finger up to his chest. "You had a hole in there! What? No 'thank you'? Well guess what, this isn't free unless we say so you motherfatter!"

"Lisanna…"

"He's pidding me off!"

"We're not allowed to have a fight okay? So calm down." The demon woman sighed, and faced the other person in the room. Natsu noticed a girl with short pink hair who was wearing a maid outfit, a poker face decorating her features and— _wait are those shackles on her wrists?_

"Why do I have to do everything around here Virgo?" The Virgo girl didn't respond and instead looked towards Natsu. She stared at him and he cringed, the demon woman brushed it off. "She's shy."

Natsu's sweat dropped.

"Can I just leave now?"

"No 'please'? Where are your manners?" Lisanna huffed again. Natsu noticed she seemed to do that a lot around him, "Either way, no! Ms. Lucy will be home soon and we need her permission to set you free."

"I already told you, I'm no one. She wouldn't know me."

"You have a motive don't you?" Aquarius piped up, "Why else would you trespass these walls?! You intruder."

"I was lost." It wasn't exactly a lie.

"Bullpoop." He was starting to get annoyed with this Lisanna person. "Ms. Lucy is verifying you and that's final! You're not leaving until then, butthole!"

The sides of his mouth twitched. His annoyance got the better of him and he pushed her, Lisanna yelling out a small yelp as she fell butt-first into the floor. He huffed, mocking her.

"Let. Me. Leave." Natsu looked down at her. _"Please?"_

"You little son of a—" Aquarius was held back by the demon woman, who seemed to stiffen up at the action he just executed. She looked at her with disbelief. "Mirajane!"

Mirajane ignored her and instead, sent a shaking head Natsu's way. "You shouldn't have done that. Now she's really mad."

Natsu scoffed, although he caught the small smirk that crawled up Virgo's lips at the corner of his eye. "I'm not scared of some little girl—"

It was then, he heard a growl from under him and he looked down.

In Lisanna's place was a _huge_ blue-eyed white tiger.

Natsu gulped. His eyes slowly went to the silent maid at the corner, who mouthed the one word he could only think of doing at the moment.

 _Run._

Natsu was already sprinting for the door the moment Lisanna roared and pounced in his direction.

"Go get 'im tiger!" Was the last thing Natsu heard before he successfully closed the door on her. He didn't stop there though, he started running down the large grand hallway that he met with. Not a moment later, he heard the door crash from a distance. His feet sped up.

Natsu's eyes weren't able to ignore the passerbys he had encountered.

They were worse and more _impossible_ than Aquarius and Mirajane. So far, he had ran past a half-scorpion half-human, a lamb-looking girl, and just as he entered what seemed to be the grand hall…there were _so much more_ of them, and came along with that were the eyes that took sight of him.

"A human, a human!" He heard twin-looking floating blue dolls say as he ran past them.

"Looks like a man!" A beast-looking form exclaimed when Natsu slid underneath between his legs and quickly ran back on his feet. He looked back and saw Lisanna jump over the huge form.

"He's seemingly handsome…" A good-looking fellow who had lion ears poking out of his golden hair mused. He was in the way, and Natsu harshly bumped shoulders with him. He kept running as he heard Lisanna roaring from behind.

He almost tripped over on his feet, which slowed down his pace and making Lisanna almost catch up to him, but he quickly recovered and pushed past another set of large doors, entering another grand hallway that had less occupants.

 _What the hell is this place?!_

Natsu thought as he jumped over a blue cat that he caught staring at him in wonder. He shook his head wildly as he ran, his adrenaline spiking up. _This is fucking crazy_.

"Hello Mister!"

Natsu's head jerked up and he looked beside him, his eyes widening when he recognized the blue cat from before, eyeing the wings that were flapping on it's back as it struggled to catch up with the pace of his running. "You can talk!"

"Aye!" The cat responded, "How'd you find this place Mister?"

"I don't know! I don't care! I just need to leave!"

"Oh! Then let me help you!"

Natsu was surprised when he no longer felt the ground underneath his feet. He looked up and saw the cat gripping into his back, flying forward with what he thinks was twice the speed that he was running with in the first place.

"WHY ARE YOU HELPING HIM HAPPY?!" Natsu heard Lisanna's voice through a large roar that emitted and vibrated through the hallway. He looked up at the blue cat that was carrying him, cringing at the strangeness of hearing an animal laugh. It was way too enthusiastic to be in this situation.

"I'm Happy by the way!" The cat introduced himself.

He distractedly responded, "You fit the part!"

"No, silly! My name, it's Happy! My name is Happy!"

Natsu flinched at the sudden outburst. What a weird name. "Nat—"

Happy made a turn, which caused Natsu to loudly bump into a nearby wall. "—OW!"

"Nice to meet you, 'Nat—OW'!" Happy cheerily said over another of Lisanna's roars. Natsu was too busy rubbing the patched part of his head to retort. "We're almost to the exit!"

He grew attentive at the words. "Hurry up then!"

Lisanna's growls grew louder. "HAPPY!"

"AYE SIIIIIIIR!" Happy yelled, his already fast speed accelerating even more as they were nearing the grand entrance Natsu already knew very well.

Just as they neared, the grand doors suddenly opened to reveal a blonde—

Natsu's eyes grew wide in recognition.

 _It's her!_

"Ms. Lucy!" He heard Lisanna screech to a stop behind him. "Happy! _Stop_!"

"LUSHIIIIII LOOK OOOOOOOOOOOOUT!"

The blonde looked up at the sound of Happy's voice, but it was too late.

Natsu's body collided with hers and they crashed past the grand doors, rolling simultaneously on top of one another on the marble staircase.

"What. In. The. World. Is. Happening!" Natsu said in pain as they fell past each stair.

"You. Tell. Me!" The girl responded.

Their grip on each other didn't loosen until they finally landed at the bottom of the steps. Natsu landed flat on his face against the dirt and dusty walkway.

He didn't move for a few moments after the impact. He silently groaned out as he struggled to hold his upper body up by his elbows, looking up to see the blonde lying a few meters in front of him, her back to him. He stared at her golden blonde hair flowing in the ground behind her.

"Lushiiii!"

Natsu turned his head slightly to see Happy running(a cat, running on two legs, what the hell)up to the girl in front him, using his two front paws to gently shake her as small tears gently ran down his face. "Lushiii, I'm sorry. Lushi…"

"I'm fine, Happy…" He watched as she attempted to roll into her back and finally succeeding, slowly sitting up and bringing Happy up to her lap. "Just what the hell is going on here…" She chuckled. Happy seemed to cheer up and smiled. That was when he pointed a paw at Natsu, the latter's head jerking up.

"A miracle has happened, but first, let me introduce you to my new friend, Nat-OW!" Happy happily(?) introduced.

The blonde turned her head towards him and he got a clear view of her face.

Blonde hair, and those beautiful, wide brown eyes.

She looked exactly like the woman from before.

Natsu was about to point a finger at her, to frown, to blame her for bringing him into this madness.

But the blonde beat him to it and staggered back, pointing an accusing finger at him with the darkest example of a glare on her beautiful face.

"It's _you_!"

* * *

 _ **A/N: Hellooo! Sorry t'was late. My love life recently came and slapped me on the face(it really hurts), but I'm slightly O-K now. My birthday was yesterday, so the sudden burst of inspiration came up and this chapter was finally written. HAHAHA.**_

 _ **Please leave a review. I want to know how you guys think about how it was written because it's my first time writing scenes like this. I'm trying my best to learn so please give a review, any form of review. I need feedback as desperately as Happy wanting Carla's love. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA just kidding.**_

 _ **Have a lovely day :)**_

 _ **-K-**_


	3. Chapter 2

_**Stolen**_

 _ **"To run away so I can climb after a mountain of happiness and freedom…made me nothing but the person I am today. A complete fool."**_

 _Ch. 2_

Wendy skimmed through the pages of her pocket book, eyebrows furrowed as she can't seem to find what she was looking for. The pages were old, dusty and faded and once again she looks up, realizing she wasn't even looking for anything in particular.

She scratched her head and groaned. _This is crazy_.

Everything has been crazy. Last night had brought out the unbecoming stress that washed all over the entire bureau. Everyone realized just how restless they were, how much the effort everybody has put into this case has become a complete and utter failure. Wendy can't say she blamed them; the Dragneel case was the absolute problem that kept the bureau busier than it should've been for it was never _ever_ to be taken lightly. The man was a shallow, arrogant, cold-blooded _thief_. He could get away with stealing just about _anything_ from _anywhere_ , and he was never afraid of getting his hands dirty. He would kill as long as he could do what he does, and that makes him a serial killer as well.

What's worse about this is that the man makes no connections. Yes he steals for other people as well, but most of them don't even realize it's _the_ Dragneel they're hiring. He's a dangerous one-man team.

 _He didn't use to be_ , Wendy added in her head bitterly.

She sighed out a ragged breath. She was tired as well.

Having no other reason to explain her weird behaviour, Wendy blamed it on the room. The room had carpet flooring, which she hated. And the walls were so grey, so dull and…boring.

She raised a hand and softly ran her fingers across the nearest wall to her seat. Such a mysterious color, yet she can't help but love it.

"I wonder why…"

"Wendy."

Her head jerked up, her hand quickly retracting from the wall as if it had caught on fire. Her eyes turned to the man who had just entered the room. Her partner, Gray Fullbuster.

Gray ran a hand through his hair, sending her a small apologetic smile. "Sorry I'm late."

Her eyes lingered a little on his disarranged hair and hummed, "It's alright…"

"The asshole's not even here yet so I can consider myself off the hook right?" Gray said as he quickly took off his coat and tossed it into a coat rack, taking the seat next to Wendy. The latter didn't seem amused with his enthusiastic behaviour and looked in the opposite direction, leaning her head against the wall. Gray sighed. "Hey, you still mad?"

Wendy watched a line of ants marching down the wall with slight interest, shrugging.

"I'm sorry, okay?" Wendy's eyes gave him a side glance, silently admiring the way he could make a face so gentle and sincere. Her eyes trailed down to his jawline, his neck, his shirt.

 _Grey. It's color is grey. How odd._

"Suits you."

Gray blinked. "What?"

"The color, it suits you." Wendy looked at him. "Gray."

Gray stared at her for a while before he shook his head, calling her weird. Wendy faced the wall again and muttered back, "Well that's nice, coming from you."

He sighed and put a hand on her shoulder, "Are you thinking about him again…?"

Wendy glanced at his hand, then his eyes. "Aren't _you_?"

"Well…" Gray trailed off as he looked down, "I guess…"

She nodded at his response and shook his hand off. "Then there's nothing left to talk about."

"Wendy, I messed up last night. I know, I'm sorry alright? I know you're very troubled about this and—well I'm doing the best I can, _we_ are doing the best we can. Aren't we?"

No response. Gray sighed in defeat and slumped back into his seat. He looked beside him at her. She wasn't looking at him, still. He stared at her, then faced away as well.

"…you're wrong, Gray." He looked up at her, confused. "You didn't mess up. We did. We're partners, what one does wrong the other one does as well. We're one, and we blame no one for our mistakes that way." She smiled a little, which slightly caught the man off guard. "I don't blame you."

"But, you always do."

"I don't blame you. I don't blame us. I never do." She repeated, facing the wall again. "Now stop bein' such a pussy and accept it. I'm taking a nap."

Gray stared at her again, then he chuckled. "Weird."

"We're both weird then."

"In that case I'm resigning." Wendy flipped the bird without looking at him and he burst out laughing. "Kidding, kidding."

Wendy closed her eyes. "You were right about one thing though."

Gray paused from laughing. "What was it?"

"I am troubled, about all of this…about him...very much." She said, her voice small. Then she breathed in, "But, there's another thing I'm troubled about. Don't worry though, it's more of…a minor thing, I guess."

"Wendy, I know how troubled you already are about what we're doing. You basically stress over it every day and lose sleep for it at night. It's your focus." Wendy nodded along, still not looking at him. "What else could possibly catch your attention?"

She breathed out a small puff of air. Cracking one eye open just the slightest bit, she stared at the dull, boring, absolutely enchanting color beside her.

"What do you think?"

The tone of her voice confused Gray, but he shook it off as he realized her breaths were getting even and soon enough, he fell into his own tired slumber. It had been a long week.

* * *

"Sorry for the delay, really."

Gray and Wendy settled down into the seats in front of the desk of their officer in-charge, Doranbolt Gryder. The latter looked especially hectic; his clothes were tattered and didn't look ironed, completely dishevelled. There were small bags under his eyes and his actions were slowed down. Wendy couldn't say much about his appearance only that he looked completely worn out.

She looked down at herself and at Gray. They looked stressed out as well.

"The higher-ups called us in at the last minute, I didn't have the authority to postpone it nor was I able to excuse myself." He said, sighing out as he plopped down into his own chair behind his desk. "Really sorry you two..."

"We understand Mest."

Doranbolt frowned. "Wendy, we've been over this. Don't call me that, it's not my name."

"No, Mest." Wendy insisted, Gray smiling discretely beside her.

"I'm not in the mood to lecture you right now…" Doranbolt scratched his head, leaning back on his seat. "…but I'm mad as hell."

"We know—"

"Oh, so you know how _completely_ disappointed I am at the both of you then? Why I called the both of you here when instead you could have caught up some good night's sleep at your own homes?!" His hoarse voice rose as he gave them the evil eye. Gray looked at Wendy from the corner of his eyes and she back, then they looked down in unison. "You had an _entire_ team behind your back, and he was right in front of you. So tell me, why isn't he in jail then?! Why is he still out there, probably planning to steal another family's prized possession?! Another item of great importance?! Worse, he's planning to _kill_ again. This is outrageous, and I expected more from the both of you."

Doranbolt opened his top drawer and took out a water bottle, downing it in one gulp. He let out a breath and looked at the both of them again, his eyes finally landing dead on Wendy.

"Especially you, Wendy." Wendy flinched, "You knew him better than anyone, and you had him right at the palm of your hand. What the hell happened?! Huh?! Why weren't you able to catch the guy when he was right fucking there?! Had I not made our mission very clear here? Were you distracted?!"

"Shut up Mest!" Wendy stood up, anger seeping out of her hazel brown eyes. "You don't have the fucking right to talk to me that way! Of course I know him better than fucking anyone, but you can't just blame it on the both of us; We tried our best and went at our hardest, where's the praise for our effort huh?!"

"You _effort_ wasn't enough! Do you honestly think this kind of failure is so extremely easy to wave off that I'd give you a fucking gold star for _effort_?! Give me a break Wendy, we all need one! And the shit you two pulled off last night isn't going to get us one!"

"It's not our fault! He's just too good!"

"And where exactly does that put you Wendy?!" Wendy's eyes widened, "He's just _too good_? You've tried your best, and all you seem to be saying is that even your _best_ wasn't enough! You're showcasing _failure_."

Wendy held back tears as her face grew hot in anger, sucking in a huge amount of air, "You mother fu—!"

"Wendy!" Gray quickly pressed his hand against her mouth and she grew stiff, wide and shocked eyes staring at him.

Her face grew mad again and she opened her mouth to bite him, but Gray pressed harder.

"Stop. Just…stop."

She blinked, frowned, then after a moment, she sighed into his hand. Gray sighed in relief as he retracted his hand and they both sat back down.

"Doranbolt…that was too much."

"Well, I'm not really thinking straight at the moment…" Doranbolt muttered in response as he sat back down in his seat, "I haven't been for the past 2 years."

"I know how you feel, I really do. It's just that—"

"Don't. Gray. I don't wanna hear any of it. I've tolerated all this, all the failed attempts and risks that were simultaneously put in vain. Last night, he was yours for the taking in so many ways, and you blew it. I'm never going to be in peace with that." Doranbolt massaged his temples and let out another of his stressful sighs. Wendy kept her head down, clenching her fists in her lap and Gray's hand on her shoulder.

Doranbolt stared at the both of them. Wendy kept her position throughout the silence meanwhile Gray moved from holding her shoulder to her hand, squeezing it once. The woman was well aware of this and was oh-so-slowly squeezing back before letting go entirely.

He eyed the two of them for the longest time, then finally spoke up. "Earlier at the meeting, the higher-ups were very enraged at the situation. At this rate, he might as well be deemed an impossible case. I would have retorted if it weren't for the fact that the best-case scenario everyone on this case had dreamed of was put to waste.

Then, came the 'unless'." Doranbolt slowly started, eyeing the silent bluenette very intently. "The case at that moment, was ready to be put down and just another unsolved case put in the archives with you two as responsible for all it's down-comings as well as this entire team. But, somebody said an unless, and she saved both your sorry asses."

"Just get straight to the point Doranbolt." Gray muttered out loudly enough for him to hear. "What's going to happen now?"

"The higher-ups requested that you two have a new co-officer."

"…what."

Gray blinked, looking at Wendy with worry etching across every corner of his face.

The lady stayed silent and looked up, a blank look on her face. As if everything was frozen and still, and she could barely feel her hands.

Then…her eyes widened, and she stood up abruptly with eyes blazing with fury.

" **Fuck.** _ **NO**_!" She shouted, and with a swipe of her hand, a huge gust of wind blew the desk away along with everything on it and it crashed into a nearby wall. Wendy stepped forward and grabbed Doranbolt by his tie, her scowl never faltering for a second. Gray tried to grab at her shoulder, but Wendy pushed him in the chest and he got blown back into Doranbolt's file keepers.

" _What the actual fuck Mest_?!" She yelled into Doranbolt's unwavering face, "This case is _mine!_ I'm not getting some other _fucker_ to help out when I've got Gray and I've got _my fucking self_. You think we can't handle it because of one single mistake?! Is that how low you've come to think of us?!" Wendy shoved him back and he crashed into the wall behind his chair. "This is a _personal_ matter Mest! Are you actually allowing _someone else_ to come and learn the secrets and dangers of a case like this?! Have you forgotten that even the fucking higher-ups don't know about the risks we took?! Are you fucking serious?!"

Wendy grabbed his chair and threw it right next to his head. Doranbolt watched it fly without interest. "He's mine for the fucking taking, and mine _alone_."

Then, silence again. Wendy tried to regain her breath, a stare down between her and Doranbolt.

 _What was so frustating was that, he always seemed to win._

Doranbolt slowly stood up from the heap of that he had crashed into, relaxed as he calmly brushed off the invisible dirt on his shoulders. He looked up at her, his arms crossing across his chest.

"It's the state's case now, not yours. No one can ever change that." Wendy staggered back in disbelief, Doranbolt breathed in.

"I'm sorry, Agent _Dragneel_."

Wendy glared at him with all the hate she could muster, and turned around. Gray was already standing behind her, concerned eyes watching as she closed her eyes at the sight of him and walked out of the room, slamming the door loudly behind her.

* * *

 _ **Notes1: Sorry it's pretty short. The chapter got WAY too long, almost seventeen pages in MS Word. The rest of it was going to be what happened after the last chapter, but like I said, it was way too long for one chapter and I thought that maybe it was more appropriate this way, to show you Wendy and Gray's (strange) relationship and how it's gone for them.**_

 _ **Notes2: So people might be thinking "So…the author ships the two of them huh." Well HAHAHAHAHAH No. I don't. But in this story the way I imagine them as characters is not the same as the actual FT. Their age gap is no more than 3 years here. And I made Wendy's personality more OOC and appropriate so they can be at least a little bit shippable in this story :3 I've learnt to ship them yes, but only here.**_

 _ **Notes3: What do you think is next for Wendy and Gray? Who do you think will be their new colleague? And how is Natsu doing? Maybe next chappie folks :3**_

 _ **Have a good day**_

 _ **-K-**_


	4. Chapter 3

**I finally caught a break and am available to write finally after so many months. I really love this fic and I hope that at least some of you are still interested. If ever, I'd like to thank you dear reader, for bothering to even come back. Just know I havent given up yet.**

* * *

 _ **Stolen**_

 _ **"What one shows is physical. What they really want is a secret."**_

 _Ch. 3_

"It's you!"

Natsu frowned up at the peculiar blonde lady, who had her pointer finger out at him with the most menacing example of a glare plastered on her face. He raised a hand, pointing to himself. "What? What _about_ me?"

At his question, the blonde's face reddened with anger. "You _know_ what you did!"

Happy stood by her foot, attempting to pull at the helm of the ridiculously long brown skirt she was wearing. He looked between his master and the young man with wide worried eyes.

Natsu scowled. What _he_ did?! She was the one who technically stabbed herself and brought him into this freaky household! He has just as much right to tell her that as she did.

"What could I possibly have done?"

"You dare speak to me in that matter of tone after what you did; how extremely _unforgivable_ of you to be, scum!" She grabbed the front of his shirt, bringing him back up to his feet. "Where is it?!"

He pushed himself away from her, pulling out a dagger in his hands in a fighting stance. "Don't. Touch me."

She frowned. "Asshole, so it was you!"

His eyebrows knit together. "What the fuck are you talking about—?!"

"Nobody speaks such vulgar language to Miss Lucy!" Natsu faced the staircase to see Lisanna in her monstrous form, running down the staircase towards him. "BARBARIAAAAAAN!"

"Shit—!" Before he could speak, Lisanna pounced at him, bringing him to the ground. Natsu's arm held back her neck, grabbing at her fur as he swung his dagger at her, while she just tries to bite his head off. "What the hell are you?!"

"That's my line, dirty mouth!" She roared at his face.

"Nat—ow is so strong!" Happy said in amazement, watching the two wrestle as he pulled at Lucy's hem. "He can take on Lisanna like that! Amazing right Lucy?"

Lucy looked down at him with a dim expression, not amused. She walked towards the two and grabbed the back of Lisanna's fur, pulling her. "STOP THIS."

Lisanna yelped and went back to her human form in a flash of white, bowing down repeatedly. "S-Sorry Miss Lucy!"

Lucy faced Natsu. "It was you wasn't it?! The one that broke into the Heartfilia mansion!" She said, her voice laced with venom with each step she took towards him, making him scurry back. "Now tell me, where is the jewel that you've done the absolute dirtiest of means to take?!"

"What the fuck are you—!" _Huh?_

 _Wait a minute. Does she mean—!_

Natsu's eyes widened. _The bag!_

"I don't know what you're talking about." _I can't feel it around me. Where would it—?!_

 _Where…_

" _You take too long."_

 _Her…that woman…_

"Liar!"

Natsu gritted his teeth.

 _It's her! She should have it! It must have fell when I ran away._

 _It should have._

"I'm not lying." _Because you have it._

"Can't be…" She whispered, confused. _What?_ "You're Natsu Dragneel aren't you?! You're the man who's responsible for last night's incident!"

Natsu watched her as she spoke with unsure determination. She doesn't know? But she knows him! She knew his name, and called him out for it.

She's…she's different.

He looked up. Nonetheless, he wasn't that much of an idiot to not realize it. To top it off, what she's wearing is absolutely different from the woman before. Nothing compared to something so plain.

"I don't know who that is."

"That's a blatant lie!" She exclaimed. _Also, she's not as calm._

"But I'm serious. I don't know who the hell you're talking about!"

"Shut up! It has to be you, why else would you trespass these walls?!" _She's sharp._

"I was lost." Though it's not completely a lie.

"Bullshit!" She's persistent. "You can't possibly tell me you got lost climbing up sixty-foot walls?!"

"Well it happened! Deal with it!" _Annoying._

 _Really annoying._

"Just admit it already!" She screeched _. Really annoying_. "You're the criminal who's responsible for last night's incident! Not just that, but you're also the man responsible for robbing so many items of importance all over Fiore! You did all those sick, horrid things…you have to admit it and pay for your crimes!"

He decided.

He completely, utterly, whole-heartedly _, hates_ this woman.

"You…" He started, glowering at Lucy, "I don't even know what more to say in order for you to just fucking believe me! Don't you think it's completely disrespectful of you to assume it's me who you're completely convinced this Natsu person is when I've been genuinely saying otherwise?! Look, just because some guy just stole a jewel or whatever the hell it was, doesn't mean it's me!"

"JUST stole—you didn't JUST stole the jewel! You…you also—!"

"If you're so convinced it's me then why don't you just call the cops?!"

Natsu panted, realizing he talked too fast. He watched as Lucy's mouth opened, as if she had something to say back, her eyes widened in disbelief, her face red in anger…but she shut it. She grew blank. His brows raised.

Silence.

She stared at the ground for a long moment, only to look back up at him. _What, she bought it?_ Natsu thought.

"It…really isn't you?"

"Yeah…"

"You…" Natsu's eyes widened at a tear falling down the side of her face. "…you really didn't know?"

He didn't reply. He was too shocked to.

Lucy faced the ground and closed her eyes like she practiced. She can't seriously be doing this now, at this situation. She can't…just…everything. Everything's happening way too fast.

She mumbled. "Everything happened way too fast. They just keep coming and coming." A tear followed after, and another one, and another until Natsu lost count.

That woman from before was definitely different, he was now certain of that but…

Those wide, expressive brown eyes…they're definitely the same. And they're…crying. He was confused, why one minute she was all up in his face and was definitely winning but suddenly…become like this. He was losing, he never lost because he was never backed into a corner before and that's exactly what she was doing, he was so angry.

 _But still, my hand is raising itself towards her._

 _Why?_

"Hey…"

Before he could touch her hair, she slapped it away and swept off her tears harshly. "No. It's nothing." She said, her voice firm. Natsu grimaced. "Really, forget it. It's an emotion that shouldn't have been brought up. My mistake."

Natsu looked at her strangely, more confused than ever. She exhaled a breath, and looked towards the mansion. "You…did you see everything?"

"Y-You mean those things?"

Lucy frowned at the mention of the word things, but nodded. "Yes."

"Well, yeah. Yeah I did…"

"You're really not Natsu Dragneel?"

He frowned. "Yes."

"What's your name then?"

"Nathan." Natsu immediately picked off the list in his head. "Nathan Dawn."

"I see." She nodded again, slowly. "Well, Nathan…"

She looked up at him, her eyes dimmed.

"I can't let you leave."

He frowned. "What? What are you—?"

"Lisanna."

"Hey—!" His hand reached out to hers, which was the last thing he remembered before his injured head hit the ground.

* * *

"What happened?"

She held the newspaper in her hand towards him. "Here, it got published just this afternoon. The only article in the whole thing." He roughly took it from her, his eyes intently scanning through it as he read. "Guess they wanted to spread the word out as soon as possible."

He didn't speak a word as he read. Her eyes wandered to the mountains of paperwork piled up on his desk, some she recognized were ones she signed earlier, and a lone glass of wine sitting on the edge. She bent over and picked it up before he slammed the paper down on the table, all the paperwork falling to the floor.

She took a sip. "Finished?"

"Was he caught?"

"Are you drunk?"

He glared at her. "Answer me."

"Don't be ridiculous." She laughed lightly at him. "It's Natsu Dragneel we're talking about. He never gets caught. He's invincible, barely human I could say, so you don't need to worry about that…" She paused. "However, it seems he has gone missing. As you've read, there was nothing left to trace, and our men haven't heard of him since yesterday…"

She watched, curious to see how he would react. He merely stared at the newspaper in his hand and stood up, starting to pick up after the fallen paperwork.

"…you're not mad?" She asked as she set the glass down, bending down to help him.

"…at the moment, he works for me. That's all there is to it."

She laughed. "What's with that?"

"We came to him." He said, stacking a few papers before bending down to pick up new ones. "He wouldn't have had anything to do with us had it not been for my offer to him." He chuckled slightly. "If anything, he'd find it a nuisance."

"How would you know?"

He paused for a little bit, as if to ponder over his choice of words before speaking.

"That man…he's determined. He knows what he wants, and he'll do what he needs to do to get it. In a sort of naïve sense I guess, I believe that my offer is of value to him…" His eyes caught something under the table. "He's a man of mystery, you never really know what he's thinking, only that with how he speaks and acts. But it somehow becomes okay to trust him, even though he'll never trust you back…rather dangerous I'll say."

She sees the paper he holds in his hands—it was the wanted flyer.

"Perfect for a thief."

A small smile crawls up his aged face. "Perfect for a thief."

* * *

 **A review would be nice :)**

 **-K-**


	5. Chapter 4

_**Stolen**_

" _ **A love took for granted, makes life a hell worth living"**_

 _Ch. 4_

Natsu pinched himself.

He's never done such a childish thing before. Pain, although inevitably there, was something he's gotten used to in his life. A pinch was nothing. But for the first time, he was the teeniest bit freaked out of his own immunity.

The worst part is, he's not waking up.

He stayed still, observing the room once again. An old-fashioned fancy pancy design he recognized was common among rich people. Two side tables. Four potted plants at each corner. A mirror, a closet. That was it, other than the queen-sized bed he's in and the gigantic window at the right which would be grand-ish if it hadn't been barricaded with dusty looking acacia.

He pinched himself again. Nothing. If this were real, which he still believes isn't, then he has been awake for approximately two hours now. According to the lack of light coming through the barricaded windows, it should be evening.

Everything surrounding him would feel like a cage if not for the large doors sitting across the room from him.

He closed his eyes, waited a few minutes, pinched himself and opened them again.

Why is he still here?

Natsu slowly sat up, scratching his head. He could feel bandages being wrapped at painful places, and his back is aching. He groaned and placed his palms on his face.

"This is a dream. All that's happened was just a dream."

Images of the various beings he had encountered flashed his mind. His face sunk deeper into his hands.

"I'm dreaming. I'm obviously dreaming if not then I've become a lunatic and they already caught me and—shit." Natsu exhaled a long, deep breath. "What's happening. I don't know what the hell is happening."

"Yeah, I know. Crazy right?"

"Woah!" Natsu looked up at the abrupt statement, his eyes meeting with the same eyes he had been dreading to see again all day.

She smiled. "Greetings."

Natsu blinked.

"WHAT THE FUCK—"

A hand slapped over his mouth. He watched with wide eyes as she brought a finger up to her lips. "Heaven's sake you've got a lot of nerve speaking such vulgar language with that loud obnoxious voice of yours."

Natsu stared at her in disbelief before slapping her hand away. "Who the fuck are you calling obnoxious?" The action stimulated a shock of pain through his head, causing him to bend down. "Shit, shit, shit…"

"Well even so, yelling is definitely a no-no. Use your inside voice."

"Who the hell _are_ you?" Natsu shook his head. "No— _what_ , what the hell are you? Why do you look like that Lucy person—what the fuck is this place?!" He ignored the prickling feeling from his lower back, gripping at his hair. " _Stay away_ from me."

Her hands went up in surrender, getting off the bed to stand next to him. "As you wish."

"Shut up. Just please shut up you seem too real."

"If I shut up how could I explain anything to you?"

"I'd like to comfort myself with the fact that all that I've witnessed so far is a mere hallucination and that there's nothing more to explain." Natsu muttered straight with his face in his hands, speaking more to himself than to the woman beside him.

A laugh. Natsu looked in confusion. She was laughing, a creepily elegant way of laughing that sent shivers down his spine as he remembered what happened. He sighed and buried his face in his hands again. "A dream. A dream. Definitely a dream."

"Oh good lord this is entertaining." He heard her sniffle, like it was so funny she had to cry. This dream is realistically annoying. "Don't you remember?"

"Remember what?"

"I told you didn't I?" She stopped laughing. "That I'd get you a way out of here."

Natsu froze.

"Just…trust me."

He looked up, a vein popping out of his neck. "Like hell I will!"

"Like hell you will what?"

Natsu blinked, looking towards the double doors to see Lisanna staring at him like he grew two heads(like she had any right to look at him that way).

He stared back at her and whipped his head across the room. The woman was gone.

 _Just trust her?_ Natsu frowned just thinking about it. She must think that he'd gone all cuckoo enough to believe her. _Her?_ Getting him a way out of here? Even if everything he'd seen and experienced was real, all he'd need would be a fresh pair of knives and…the bag.

 _She has the bag! Of course!_ Natsu groaned at his stupidity, how on earth did he forget something so important?!

"What the hell…"

"Such a foul mouth!" Natsu jumped at Lisanna's exclamation, properly noticing her for the first time. She was wearing another weird dress with a more ridiculous color pattern than before while holding a tray with both hands, the familiar look of disgust on her face. She sighed, "Get dressed! Clothes are in the closet. Ms. Lucy and the rest of us are expecting you to come down to dinner tonight."

Lisanna's eye twitched at the dumbfounded look on Natsu's face. She harrumphed and faced away, "Happy will accompany you so get that stupid look off your face."

"Wha—Happy?" A blue cat entered the room just as Lisanna left, a big grin on it's face.

"Aye! Nice to see you again Natsu!"

Natsu shook his head and sighed.

Then his eyes widened.

"Y-You just called me—!" Natsu stammered, looking to see if Lisanna really left the room.

"Aye, Natsu's your name yes?"

"But how did you—?"

"Lushi said that's your name! Natsu…like summer aye?" Happy flew towards him and Natsu flinched at the sight of his wings.

 _She's not denying my name_ , Natsu looked down at his hands. He crumpled them to fists then opened them, a mannerism he's adapted to whenever he felt confused. If she's not denying it then does that mean she did not buy the whole Nathan bullshit it's not me thing all along?

Natsu closed his fists tighter. If she knew it was him all along, then why hasn't she called the cops? Maybe that's why he's invited to dinner?

His head hurts.

"Stop overthinking and get dressed Natsu!" Natsu sent a look Happy's way. "Don't look at me like that. The fish just got served and mine's getting cold! But I thought it would be pretty cool to meet you again so I agreed to come accompany you."

Happy watched as a strange mix of emotions crossed Natsu's face—they all seemed reserved and panicky at the same time that it almost looked…blank. Happy's eyes squinted, "You're a pretty mysterious guy Natsu."

"Huh? Uh, sure. I guess you can say that." Natsu mumbled as he got out of bed. "I'm gonna get dressed now so can you please leave for a moment?"

"Aye! I'll wait outside!" The cheerful cat announced as he flew out of the room.

Natsu waited for the doors to close completely before rushing towards the barricaded windows, pulling desperately at the wooden planks nailed completely to cover it.

"I can't get caught now…" Natsu muttered to himself repeatedly as his scraped hands pulled with all the brute strength he had left in him, but in the end it was no use. They were tough and shut tight. Natsu growled and looked around. His eyes caught the side table and immediately went to pick it up, lifting it over his head.

He let out a small yell as he threw it across the air, successfully smashing the wooden planks to pieces. The table broke in half and crashed into a heap on the floor. Natsu panted, wiping a sweat off his brow. He smirked. See? He didn't need some ghost lady's help to get himself a way out. Speaking of her, if she really has the bag then he'd have to come back for it somehow—but there might possibly be a group of guards awaiting him downstairs and—

Natsu grit his teeth.

She…she might be there.

"Like hell. Like fucking hell I'd let _her_ get to me!" Natsu said as he ran towards the window.

Just as he was about to jump, red light radiated off the darkness and an invisible force pushed him back, throwing him across the room. Natsu coughed out at the impact, looking up at the window. "What…"

His shocked eyes watched as a heavy aura glowed around the large open windows.

Slowly, the broken pieces of the wooden planks started materializing into how they were before and covered the windows one by one until finally…everything went back to how they were before Natsu threw the table.

The table itself went back to it's old form and floated back to its' original place. Natsu slowly slid off the wall. "What…the hell…"

A prison. Natsu gulped, just what on earth had he gotten himself into?

"Natsu? Are you done? I'm hungry and I think Lucy will get mad if you don't come now!"

Natsu looked towards the door, then walked towards the closet. Fancy pancy clothes. Huh, might as well get arrested in style.

He picked up the clothing, it's fine to keep it like this. Not be affected. Not be affected.

One look at the windows and Natsu's resolve broke to pieces. "This is way too freaky though!"

"What was that?"

"Nothing! I said fishy! I'm feeling especially fishy today!"

"Now you're making me more hungry Natsu! I might eat you!"

"…"

A dream.

Definitely a dream.

* * *

" _She's breathing! Get the damn car ready!"_

" _The lacrima engine blew up sir—!"_

" _Shit, just get a doctor or whatever! Hurry!"_

" _What…"_

" _Hey are you alright? Miss?"_

" _You…where…"_

" _Can you hear me miss?! My name is Gray Fullbuster and you're currently under…"_

 _Gray…Fullbuster…no, stranger. Natsu, where's…_

" _Natsu…nii…"_

" _Miss? Miss?!"_

"Hey, Wendy!" The glass fell out of Wendy's hand as she woke up, startled. She waited her bleary eyes out then looked down at the broken pieces.

"Oh, it fell."

"You're wasted." Wendy squinted through the blurriness to see a familiar figure and smirked.

"Graaaaaaay, good to see ya partner!" She tried to hook her arm around his neck, like in the stories they write on Sorcerer magazine. But she didn't know where her arm was swinging and ended up hitting some other dude. "Oops, sawry."

"Watch where you're swinging bitch—!"

"Back off." Gray told him and the dude walked away muttering. Wendy laughed at the scary look on her partner's face, then frowned. She turned around.

"Yeah, ya bettar kep walkin!" She stared after the man then laughed again. "Olways wanted too do that," Her words slurred, then she hiccupped.

"How many times have I already told you to stop drinking…"

"Ya cawnt tell meh what to dzooo…"

"Are you slurring your words on purpose?"

"Newp!" She giggled and then immediately transformed demanding, slamming a fist on the counter. "Oi Barney! A new glasssssssssssss, Graybitch browke mine!"

"Got it."

"No, Barney. No more drinks for her."

"Who diiiied and made YOU Barney's king?!"

Wendy glared at Gray with all the hate she could muster, but there was none. Her reddened face fell back, groaning. "Daaaaaamn just goooo aweeeeeey! Barney! Drink!"

"No."

"Annoying!" Wendy harrumphed, giving the Gray figure a look of menace. "Leave!"

"That's it."

"What—HEY! STAHP BITCH!"

The Gray figure sighed and picked her up, hanging her on his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. The bartender and other guys watched as two supposedly famous agents walked out of the bar, Wendy kicking and punching and just being a drunken childlike person.

Even when they were out on the street, Wendy wouldn't stop.

"Puuut meh dawnnnnn! Daownnnnnnn! GRAYBITCH! DICKWAD! FUCKIN DRAG!" Wendy whined, trying to crack his spine with her karate skills, although she couldn't get the alcohol in her head to adapt to it and kept missing. "Am serious, put me downnnn!"

"No."

"NO?"

"Yes. No."

"Whuuut?"

"Go to sleep." Gray figure said, Wendy's neck turned to stare at the back of his head. "I'm bringing your drunk ass home…"

Gray felt Wendy stiffen, a bit surprised that that was all it took to shut her up. Unlike the previous times he'd caught her drunk, it was never easy to get her at ease. Surprisingly enough, this was the first time he'd ever calmed her down with one sentence.

Gray sighed. He never thought that Wendy could be an alcoholic. He never found her as someone who vents their problems on drinking. She…looked innocent.

He walked in silence for a moment, when he heard her mumble. "What was that?"

"But I have…no home…" Her words didn't slur, she noticed. Wendy kept staring at the back of Gray's head. Maybe she sobered up a little.

"That's not true."

"You callin' me a liar dickface?!" Okay, maybe not. "He was my home, he was my everything!"

"I know."

"He was my happy place. I never went by a perfect day without his _stupid_ smile!"

"I know."

"He was amazing!" Wendy laughed, and laughed and laughed but the tears wouldn't stop. She choked. "He used to bring me out on this cute little pond so we could go fishing. He keeps catching the big ones, that's unfair you know?!

"Now it's like sooo funny cause I'm trying to catch him! Funny right?! So funny." She pounded at his back, like she'd never left the bar in the first place. "He'd make a pretty big catch too! Hahahaha!"

"Wendy—"

"But he hates me." She whispered, burying her face into his back. "Hahaha, he probably does. Isn't it sad? That's weird, it was funny then now it's sad. My life!"

"Wendy!"

"Without him, my life…" She laughed, her tears soaking through his shirt. "My life's like this. I wish he'd just drop dead then maybe I won't feel that hatred anymore."

Gray brought her down to her feet and hugged her tightly. "Wendy, shut up."

"He was loving, and cared for me like no one else did."

"He's a thief. He's a killer. Remember why we signed up for this in the first place?"

"He did it for us…for me and…that person…it got out of hand. He didn't mean it, I know he didn't and instead of helping him I—!"

"Wendy there's nothing we can do about it anymore! He's doing it for himself now!" Gray pulled back and gripped her face. "We've talked about this…"

"Yeah, but only when I'm drunk. I only ever talk about this kind of shit with a good deal of alcohol to fire me up this much…" Wendy wiped her hands harshly across her face. "He's horrible, he's a monster, yet I love him so much..."

"Wendy…"

"I love him…so much I have to kill him before it's too late. Before he realizes. I can't believe I'm saying all this shit."

"You can't help it."

"No. Don't talk like you understand." She glared at him. "Why do you care about me so much?! Huh? I thought I asked you to leave earlier—heck, I told you to screw off since five years ago! _Why are you still here?!_ Why are you still trying to comfort me?!"

Gray frowned, the clear look of confusion on his face sending a soft pang to Wendy's heart. _What on earth am I saying?_ "Am I not allowed to care about you?!"

"Haven't I made that clear?!" _Stop it_.

"You can't be serious. Wendy I love you! You're practically a sister to me, and you're my partner! I can no longer leave you alone!"

 _He said it. He said it again. Just like he's been doing for the past 5 years._

Wendy laughed.

 _A fool I am! Seriously!_

"Don't talk to me like you even understand what love is! Like _you_ ," She let out a sarcastic laugh, pointing an accusing finger, "like _you_ would know how _I_ feel! You cold-hearted _bastard_!" _Stop it. Just stop it._

" _Wendy_!"

" _No!_ Leave me alone and this time, follow it! I'm going home alone!" _Before my drunk ass could do even stupider things._

 _Say stupider things._

Wendy pushed him back and walked away, but Gray took hold of her hand. "Please, don't walk out on me again…"

"I'm drunk Gray. Leave me be!"

"Yes, you are. This is just the results of how things had been. These thoughts are no different than before. We will catch him, we will. I know we will without that new co-officer or not,"

 _Like I even care about that at this point_ , Wendy thought. "See you at work Gray."

"Wendy, I care about you."

"I know."

"And I love you. I would never leave you."

"I know Gray! Fuck I know that very well." Tears welled up in Wendy's eyes, flowing down her reddened face. "But…you're not my brother." Gray's eyes widened as she snatched her hand back, "At this point, I don't think I could ever look at you that way."

She didn't stay to find out if he understood what she meant, to see if the broken look in his face meant anything. She walked away, went back to her apartment without looking back. "See you at work."

At those words, she didn't need to look back to know where his fading footsteps were heading.

* * *

Natsu made a mental note to check his sanity at least twice a day from now on, standing in front of the improbable scene before him.

He expected the dining hall to be an extravagant and massive place filled with chandeliers and candle lights, but although it is in fact huge the occupants are the very reason why Natsu's suspecting he might have claustrophobia.

It was a _mess_.

It looked nothing like an extravagant fancy pancy dining hall Natsu had ever witnessed in any rich homes. Instead of a veeeery long antique table he had assumed there was, there were wooden tables arranged stupidly at every corner of the room. The floors were marbled and supposedly shiny, if not for the beer glasses scattered everywhere.

His heartbeat grew faster at the sight of the…beings. And Happy flying again next to him wasn't any help.

Natsu stared. He immediately recognized the demon woman and the floating mermaid talking across the room. His eyes darted from one unfamiliar being to another.

There was a standing goat in a suit and a rambunctious looking cow which caught his attention, then a man that greatly resembled a crab, then another one with piercings all over his body quarrelling with a beast of some sort on one of the tables. They were both enormous!

A half-naked woman who had her head inside a barrel, another holding a spike ball while conversing with yet another gigantic creature being a purple snake—Natsu's eyes paused in observing when he spotted…her.

Lucy.

And as if she sensed his glance, she raised her head as she ate and saw him.

She smiled.

Natsu's fist closed, then opened.

"We're here everyone!" Natsu jumped at Happy's announcement, but immediately felt all heads turning to him and his feet glued to the ground.

The lively chatter in the room Natsu failed to notice earlier reduced to complete silence.

Lucy stood up from her seat, clasping her hands together with a smile on her face before bringing them up in front of her, like a queen(without the huge dress and jewelry and crown-okay maybe more a host than a queen). "Everyone, I'd like you all to meet our newest prisoner!"

Natsu could feel the burning stares coming from each and every creature in the room, slowly backing up against the doors. He could feel the sweat welling up in his palms as Lucy's smile slowly turned to a smirk, half-lidded eyes looking down on him even from a distance.

"He's a thief by the way. So be careful to watch your backs! He has quite the reputation actually, and I'm sure most of you have heard of him. He's responsible for the various wrongdoings that occurred all over Fiore for the past nine years!"

Natsu scowled, and her smirk only grew wider. "Though I trust you guys to watch over him from now on, he will pay for every horrid thing he has committed and I've decided, it'll be done in this household! I mean, can you believe it? He claims not to remember his crimes, what a joke!

"So starting today, it would please me very nicely if you will all participate in making _this_ man's life—" Lucy pointed a finger towards him, "—a wonderful living hell."

She clapped her hands once again. "Give it up for Natsu Dragneel, everyone!"

Silence. Then…

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!" Every being in the room said in complete unison.

"So he's the one—"

"It can't be!"

"How is he here?!"

Statements overlapped with one another and immediately intent glares were sent at Natsu, the hall brimming with hushed whispers like a controversial gossip spreading like wildfire.

"That's right. He is the culprit of the thievery crimes done to my mother's manor!" Lucy took something out of her pocket—a wrinkled, stained piece of paper with Natsu's face drawn on top of big bold letters.

 **WANTED**

Natsu never really liked those shitty flyers. Any thief wouldn't, but he hated the creators, the people requesting for him behind a piece of paper, waiting just one phone call away for anybody who could find him. And although, what a thief should hate about them is the thought of getting caught, to Natsu it's more the thought of giving up. To surrender, to lose hope. Between that and getting caught by some random passerby—there's a clear difference.

He especially hated people who go after the one million jewel reward, but this woman was different. She caught him, had him held captive in the least realistic place he should be in the entire universe and still chooses to dangle that stupid flyer in his face.

She's not giving him to the cops.

She wants him to give up to her.

"Have I refreshed your memory, or do you still insist on staying oblivious?" Lucy asked, standing up from her seat. It was then Natsu noticed that Virgo was standing right next to her. "Until you hand over the jewel you've stolen from my Mother, then you shall remain a slave and a prisoner here for being the wretched man you are!"

Sweat dripped down the sides of Natsu's face as the looks on the creatures' faces slowly turn into mischievous smirks, his hands gripping the door handles in order to run away at any moment. Everyone was taking slow steps towards him, like a predator to their prey.

"Finally, someone I can freely beat up around here!" The piercing dude Natsu saw earlier exclaimed, his arms morphing into what seems to be steel.

The beast looking guy retorted shoving him back, "Not if a true man can beat him up first!"

"Sounds like a plan." Natsu's head whipped up at Lucy's statement. "Very well then, whoever brings him to me first gets to have second servings for dessert!"

Heads turned to each other, before they all let out battle cries and charged towards the pink-haired man. Natsu pushed the doors open from behind him and was about to make a run for it when he was suddenly grabbed by the back of his shirt. "Shit—!"

When he opened his eyes, he was shocked to see that his feet were ten feet above the ground and the creatures' heads, looking up to see Happy clinging to him while grinning widely.

"No fair, Happy!"

"Damn cat and his wings!"

Natsu tugged at Happy's tail frantically, "H-Happy, help me out! Please!"

"Sorry Natsu, but…" Happy paused mid-air, "…FISH SUNDAE IS MY PRIORITY!"

"…what?"

Then he dropped him.

"What. The. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU—!"

Natsu immediately crashed into a table that just so happened to be full of food. By the time he made an impact, beer got into his pants, five pieces of cake stuck to him and a mysterious looking substance that could possibly be curry covered half his face, leaving him to be a heaping mess on top of a broken table.

Lucy bent down in front of his poor body, wiping the curry from his eyes with a handkerchief and holding out a plate in her hand. Natsu glared at the content smile on her face, and for once, it actually reached up to her wide brown eyes.

"Welcome to dinner Natsu Dragneel. Fish?"

* * *

 _ **Okay so if I'm going to be completely honest with myself this chapter was COMPLETE uncharted territory for me. I've never written an action story before, heck even a fantasy one, which is why Ive always stuck to AUs and never the actual FT universe. This is still an AU of course, but it's still a fantasy and action genre, and that SCARES ME. I don't how this story will end up, but I really want to improve how I write so please review or PM me on any constructive criticism you might have with this story. It's a first I want to bet on :)**_

 _ **And also, completely unrelated topic, but I finally convinced my Mom to pay monthly for my crunchyroll account and now I am a legal Otaku :D no more kissanime yippee finally can help the anime industry okay bye sorry for wasting your time hahahaha have a lovely day~**_

 _ **-K-**_


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